Explode
by AnimeFan202
Summary: The ongoing hatred wasn't the only effect of watching his clan's massacre. The only problem now is that Sasuke won't admit to having a problem.


**Explode**

Sasuke was beginning to think that everyone around him was losing their mind. Why? Well, there were a lot of reasons. The main one being that team 7 was sitting in a theater... watching some play.

It was absolutely ridiculous! He'd hoped the day would never come when Kakashi started taking cues from Gai. This was exactly the type of act Lee's team would partake in. And he couldn't stand it.

Sasuke had never been deathly claustrophobic or anything, but there was something about this theater that just made it seem really stuffy.

On one side he had Sakura, chattering away in soft tones, attempting to engage him in a conversation about the play that he was not watching. Every few seconds or so Naruto would glare at him and then try to make up for his lack of speech. Add on top of this, consider the fact that the rest of the audience looked ready to call an usher over and the fact that their sensei looked no more interested than he did and this trip could officially be marked as unbearable.

It did make him wonder though. What had been Kakashi's motive for bringing them here? He had his one revealed eye closed so he obviously didn't care for the show. (Though Sasuke may not have been watching he could tell from the little snippets he did see that this was not the sort of thing Kakashi would have come to see had it been just him.) And from what Sasuke had learned about his teacher, he never would have put himself through this sort of ordeal as well unless he _did_ have some sort of ulterior motive. Now if only he could figure out what it was...

It seemed that a lifetime had passed by the time intermission finally came. Ignoring his team mates inquiries about where he was going, Sasuke pushed his way out of the theater and into the lobby. Unfortunately, as he quickly realized, just about everyone else had had the same idea.

Mentally, Sasuke groaned to himself.

The theater had been stuffy. The lobby was both crowded and ridiculously warm. Or was it just him? Everyone else seemed to be having a nice time, talking to whoever they'd come with.

He got the urge to hunch his shoulders up to his ears. What was the matter with him? The talking of the crowd was slowly drowned out by his own heartbeat. His ears were filled with the sound of its rapid throbbing.

If he could only get outside... He needed fresh air, but where was the exit? With a growing sense of panic his eyes swept the room. In every direction his eyes were assaulted by people milling about. He could hardly see the walls never mind the doors! His head began to throb in time with his heartbeat. It was beginning to blend into one continuous excruciating blur. He began to fear it would never end. His breathing began to quicken. A moment ago he would have been relieved to have been rid of the sound of his heart, but now a new form of panic was erupting inside of him. He couldn't hear his heart anymore. Why couldn't he hear his heart?

He couldn't take this anymore. He was going to go crazy if he couldn't make it stop! He'd kill something soon! Preferably himself.

Shaking and sweating, Sasuke made his way over to the wall, no longer caring about the strange looks he was starting to attract. He needed to be able to concentrate on just breathing right then, something he'd never be able to accomplish if he acknowlegded their staring.

Finally feeling the firm surface beneath his trembling palm, he slid down and buried his head between his knees. Those strangers could gape all they wanted. He just needed to be rid of them all.

Sasuke had been hoping the darkness would be welcoming, but with dread he realized that it only made him more claustrophobic.

Oh, god... Would it never stop? Sasuke wished for nothing more than to be able to push through the crowd and find the doors that would lead him into the sunlight. But no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't find the strength to move. The blackness was too strong. He couldn't win.

Sasuke got the feeling he may have slumped to the ground, but he just couldn't tell anymore. He kept expecting relief from the suffocation, but it just wasn't coming. He gasped. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe! He couldn't BREATHE!

He dragged air into his lungs, but it wasn't enough. With the same sense of dread he knew he wouldn't be able to take a deep breath.

Suddenly something (or was it someone? A random face in the crowd maybe?) was breaking into his little bubble of pain.

At first this was a good thing. But when he realized that this person had not managed to pop the bubble he didn't want him there. His little space had already been one person too crowded without this stranger.

He wanted to protest when the man (for now he could tell it was a man) picked him up because if possible (he'd seriously thought it couldn't be possible) his little bubble shrunk when his face was pressed up against the man's chest.

But as they began to move he could feel some hope freeing itself from the darkness. The crowd parted as they walked toward what he could now recognize as the exit. This man had just become his candle. But he'd finally reached his limit. After another moment everything faded to a blackness he wasn't even aware of.

**...**

The light was blinding. But as much as the brightness hurt his eyes it was much better than the seemingly eternal darkness. Sasuke shuddered at the thought of it.

"Ah, coming around, are you?"

Sasuke looked up in time to see Kakashi snap his book shut. He didn't respond. Really, he probably wouldn't have responded anyway, but his throat was incredibly dry.

"You really weren't out that long," Kakashi continued not seeming to realize (or rather, pretending not to realize,) Sasuke's reluctance to have this conversation.

Kakashi shut up after this. He wasn't sure if his student had ever had a true panic attack before, but he was sure he'd been in danger of one. Maybe what he'd done was cruel, but Kakashi did a lot of cruel things. At least he meant well... usually.

The one unpredictable variable in this plan was that, even after this ordeal, Sasuke may not admit to having a problem.

Through his continued silent treatment, Kakashi could tell that this was true. He didn't want to have to create a pattern for this. (Even he could tell when a situation went from being cruel to being unreasonable.) Whatever the future would bring, he could tell that they were at a standstill for now.

So, sighing, he rose to his feet and Sasuke, a bit reluctantly, followed suit.

"Come on," said his sensei. "Naruto and Sakura are waiting for you."

**Review please!**

**Okay, so I started this a long time ago, wrote the first three or four sentences, and then didn't look at it again for months. Despite this fact, I knew how I wanted this to go, and I know it didn't really have an ending.**

**In case you missed it, basically, because of all the stress he's been put through Sasuke has been having panic attacks. However, this was the first major one. Kakashi noticed all the smaller ones and felt that if he could force Sasuke to realize that he had a problem he would eventually go for help.**

**Key word- eventually. Obviously this doesn't get solved in this one-shot, nor do I plan to write a story for this. What happens next is left to your minds. :)**

**Just felt like making that clear.**

**I don't own Naruto!**

_**Revised (though only slightly) as of 7/16/13. Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews, but I still have no plans for continuing this. Though if anyone else would like to create their own version and drag it out into a story with multiple chapters, you're more than welcome, and I might even read it myself. Thanks again!**_


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